


Lost My Composure

by periwinklepromise



Series: Femslash February 2019 [22]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Femslash February 2019, First Date, Fluff, Getting Together, Some self-consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-10-29 17:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17812322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: Pepper's not used to being nervous.For MCU Kink Bingo square O2: Trope: First Date





	1. Chapter 1

Pepper tapped her manicured nails against the wooden tabletop. When she realized she was doing it, she flattened them severely and kept them still. She took a deep breath. She could do this.

To be respectful to her date, she had decided to completely put away her phone. It was turned off, something she hadn't done in the entire time she had been employed by Tony Stark, and certainly not once she'd been promoted to CEO. But she was taking some time to herself, and since things with Tony hadn't worked out, she'd decided to go on a date. Thor's partner Dr Jane Foster had set her up with her good friend and fellow scientist Darcy Lewis, and she had been given a picture so she knew who to look for. 

Another deep breath. 

This was fine. Everything was going to be fine. 

And yes, Pepper had not been on a first date in years – and she could barely count her “first date” with Tony since they had already known each other so well – so she would have every reason to be nervous, but she wasn't nervous at all. Not really. Just ...

The bell over the door clanged, and Pepper jerked her head up again to check the newest arrival. There she was. Dear Lord, there she was. Looked just like her picture. Except of course she didn't really have little deer antlers and sparkles all over her face. But Pepper had expected that to be the case.

She stood and couldn't stop herself from brushing down her skirt nervously. All of her nice clothes now were work clothes, so it looked like she had just stepped out of the office, but there was no helping that. She stepped forward, hand outstretched, just like she was meeting another CEO at a conference table. “Darcy Lewis?” she began, as if that weren't obvious. 

“Pepper?” Darcy greeted her warmly, gripping her hand and moving in closer for a brief but tight hug. “Hi, it's really nice to meet you.” It should be a cliché, but it almost seemed genuine coming from her. 

“Likewise,” Pepper replied smoothly, and then she gestured to the bar on the other side of the coffeeshop. “Would you like some coffee?”

“Oh, please,” she gasped in relief, and then confessed, “I had the longest day.”

Maybe Pepper would take that comment better if she weren't so … _not_ nervous … but it did sound like maybe they should just reschedule. Or cancel. Or something. “If you need to go,” she began to offer, but Darcy cut her off.

“Oh, no, I'm fine. I just need my coffee.” She grinned, and Pepper was struck by just how beautiful she was, how she was even more gorgeous when she was smiling at the thought of caffeine. “What'll you have?”

Pepper said the first thing she could think of. “Vanilla latte.”

“Skinny or regular?”

“Regular?” Pepper answered, but she sounded unsure. Why would she get it skinny? Was that a dig? She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. There was no way Dr Foster would set her up with a woman who would criticize her weight, let alone on a first date. “With whipped cream, please.”

“With whip, coming up.” Darcy patted her on the shoulder and went to the counter to order and pay. It hadn't even occurred to Pepper to stand to pay instead. She was certainly “worth” more money than Darcy, that was true with most everyone, so she had gotten very used to paying for everything. She didn't mind in the slightest.

But it was nice that Darcy hadn't assumed.

Pepper could get used to this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue, of sorts

Darcy was a lot of fun to be with, and she didn't make Pepper feel embarrassed or boring for maybe not being as much fun as other people. 

So when Darcy wanted to go to a ballgame, Pepper moved meetings around and found the time. And when her phone wouldn't stop going off every ten minutes, Pepper turned the damn thing off and handed it over to Darcy for safe keeping. 

The first time they kissed, they'd been rained out of a picnic in Central Park. Pepper was worrying about her shoes, and her blazer, and her favorite set of still-business-appropriate lingerie she was wearing. Darcy was laughing and swinging the basket she'd packed and talking about atmospheric conditions with terms that would probably be understood by a fellow scientist but definitely wouldn't be understood by anyone else. And Pepper had turned around to pout, and Darcy had been so struck by how cute she was that she flung the picnic basket half down the sidewalk and grabbed her face and laid one on her, and it was weird, how everything sort of blurred together and they were both soaking wet and they were both warm and Darcy's hands were on her waist now and Pepper's hands went up to Darcy's cheeks and they laughed into the kiss until they were just holding each other laughing and breathing air from each other's mouths. 

And when Pepper planned the date, they went to the opening of a new exhibit at an art gallery, which to be frank, Darcy couldn't care less about, but it made Pepper happy, since she'd spent years curating a collection for Tony when she wasn't yet his CEO. So they were there, Pepper looking art, Darcy looking at Pepper. And Darcy cracking “looking at the masterpieces” jokes about once a minute. But she had come, and she had stayed, and once they'd left, she made several intelligent remarks about the pieces – she'd been paying attention, even if she liked to pretend otherwise.

The first time they made love, Darcy didn't make a single joke.

The second time they made love, Darcy made so many jokes that Pepper actually had to roll away to stop laughing. 

On days – or weeks – where Pepper couldn't make the time to spend with Darcy, she knew Darcy spent more time with Jane as they bonded over having partners who had such responsibilities. They fought, sometimes, when they were both stressed and sad and needing contradictory things from each other, but they always worked their way through. Relationships were like that, the ones that worked anyway.

When Pepper proposed, fourteen months after their first date, Darcy did not make a joke.

She just said, “Yes.”


End file.
